Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-09-13
FOR WOMEN TO READ.
A Boston Editors Protest against Baby
Talk-Hcu Mothers Chat to Children.

TalR-HcH Mothers Chat to Children.
l often wonder il otherwise sensible
people realize not only how supremely
ridiculous they make themselves, but
also what injustice they do their children
By deluging them with that lipgusl dish
wash popularity known as baby talk.
SIN VEL sware that in denouncing this
little luxury l am flying in the fsce Of
puo.ic opinion, CT rather Of public prac-
tee, for | doubt if opirion E8s much to
do with the matter. This is Tree coun-
Try. Life, liberty and the pursuit of hap
! piCess belong even to the poorest, and
! you invade one Of mankinG's most precious
privileees when you seSGil the right Of
TIE irdividual TO make an ass Of himself.
| Blu. &c il remembered that baby, too,
has his rights. Yourg Americs, even il
his cradle hiss his constitutional Guaran-
tees. Let them be respected. Give him
9 chance at his mother tongue. Don't
det2r his education IL order &c in6ulga
yourself in the pleasures OF adult idiocy.
Don't demorslIze his car for the sake Of
the satisfaction it gives his prlm and
severely proper maiden aunt to avail
herself Of her only legitimate chance
st billing and cooling. Let thet estims-
Bile spinster bill and COO, by all means
it not TO 8 lover, to baby; but in
either case, for the sake OF both the
victim and the language, let her
Go il without actual violence 20 the
vernecuiar.
Be the family rich or poor, high or
humble, nothing is too good for the baby;
snd such mangIed and mutilated irag-
ments OF language as fail 30 the lot OF the
H. Is1E
eno2Gh for him. Moreover, they are an
insult to his intelligence. No wonder the
little stranger sometimes surveys the
family field with depFecstorY gaze Of
dignifed disgust that says palmer than
words: "Have l come into g world Of
utter idiots?"
Far be il from me to enter 8 protest
against dimiDutives. These have their
uses. IL certain-and sometimes uncer-
taiG-emergeDCies they are priceless. In
fact, there 1s nothing handler to have in
the house. They are very present help
in tine of trouble, buffer in days of do
mestic vicissitude and danger. Would
you sppease an angry sweetheart, cir
Cumvent q C1ntsnkerous tOther half,
pacify an iGcensed infant, the worth Of
the diminutive can scarcely be overes-
timated. II is most invaluable auxil.
iary Of moral suSsioG. But even in the
= shadow Of your own lares and penstes,
look to it that it does not get the best OF
you F&ciiS est descersus Averni.
There is no law Of God or grammar
to prevent your denominating the dog @
doggy, or persuasively appealing to pass
as q pussy. Baby itself i diminutive
and infinitely sweeter and dearer than its
prototype. The trouble is that when
people begin taking liberties with Ian
guege they don't know where to stop. l
merely and modestly file a csYeat sgainst
the further matreatlng of cur mother
tongue by the multitude.
The odd thing is that the majority OF
mankind seem TO think there is 8 sort Of
virtue IN torturing and twisting the Ian
guage out OF all sembanCe of symmetry
and sense before applying it to infantile
uses. Milk fer babies is all right, and has
SCripturaI authority, bat how shout skim
milk2 Possibly, genuine, unauthorized,
vigorous An2lo-Saxon is q pretty strong
meat for fodder. But, however that
may be, baby must learn to msnage it ct
least half Way decently if you expect him
to be President CT these United States,
> and Of course you do. And how is he
ever going to learn it Il ne never means
lit? Ii is not only the first step that
iCOsts, but the first that counts, and it is G.
standing marvel tIat children ever speak
correctly when you con ider the nangled
and mutllated condition of the language
when they first make its acquaintance.
Call the little ones "preci0us petsn
and "rosie posies" and 'pretty pearls. :"
By no means abolish the one beauty Of
baby-talk, its loviDgness. Administer
every sweet and endeariDg epithet you
can lay your tongue to, but do not let the
good old English words degenerate into
gibberish and jargon. Putyour caresses
into your wholesome of cur New Eng
land voices need them badly enough
and put not your trust in dropped or
trgnsmOgrifed Consonants. 1t 'isn't so
much what you say as tne way you say
it that matters. Some OF Milton's stately
but melOGious lines would fall upon
bsby's tympanum with far sweeter
end more soothing sound than the
senseless slop thst is usually Iadled out
. to him. You might csll him PARALLEL
, opidedon, and, provided you pror ounced
the polysyllabic torture CT O'Conpell's
. fish-fag with caressing sofrne>s, Pill be
bound baby would like it better than
4 your "pitty little Sings" etcetera, ad
Mauseam.
Bsby-taIk per sc is all well enough.
Its true inwardness appeals to every
body. L auimedvert only upon it's
abuses and perversion By TIE thoughtless.
The truth Is that bsby-talk Gas it is
spoke" Is a luxury INDUCED in as dis
sipation by the adult, Without regard to
a the demoralizing effect it may have upon
b6e infant esr and tongue.
Most OF ycu VINO are addicted to the
practice probably think baby likes it.
But does he? Bless hat little apostle OF
sweetness and light, and abate no jot or
TITLE OF his joys! Give him pleasure In
full mea ure, pressed down and running
over, out why take it for granted that this
eratuitcus display or idiocy On your part
delights him?
o ye OF little faith! Why insult baby
oy presupposing him es big fool as you
sre? MARY NORTON BRADFORD.